CHAPTER 92: MUDDY BURROW

Daru adjusted his slumber capsule before standing up.

His exit timing would be a bit suspicious if he stayed in the realm for even a few more minutes.

Thus, since he was stuck thinking of what to do next anyway, he simply chose a mangrove root hollow he believed was safe and left his husk there.

He shall think of what to do next before nightfall.

Lightly stretching his body while ignoring the mild hubbub around him, Daru left the classroom, quite satisfied that he had found a solution to the goon squad’s time-waster taunt sessions.

Simply exiting five to seven minutes later was enough to discourage them.

Heading to the academy canteen, Daru’s mind worked.

’Hmm...the last print I saw was heading straight for that thick mangrove cluster...’

The group of coneleaves didn’t seem passable, at least not head-on without destroying them. This meant that the swordspawn had probably circled around it.

He continued thinking about the matter while eating, concluding that the next thing he should do was look for tracks around the cluster.

Daru had already figured out what to do by the time he was done eating.

He quickly prepared for and headed to his afternoon swordsmanship classes, training with Iris for a total of two and a half hours, before leaving the Sixth Training Field.

The world government was strangely inactive.

Daru expected that they would have at least a message for him today, but Snowflower confirmed they hadn’t reached out to her.

So, he was able to enter the Myriad Sword Realm again with a serene heart and clear mind.

He shall focus on locating the mysterious swordspawn.

With the world of white void warping into the creepy surroundings of the Somber Swamp, Daru resumed his search.

He exited the root hollow and circled to the right in hopes of locating another hoofprint.

But there were none.

All that happened was that he fought a dozen, level 41 Tahm Throssas and level 42 Droven Murrs—a swordspawn that seemed to be a close relative of the former, with it having the distorted features of a gar.

Daru searched thoroughly.

However, he still found nothing, so he concluded that the mysterious swordspawn went the other way.

After all, the longest gap between the tracks had always been somewhere around a minute and a half and two minutes.

He had already been searching in this direction for fifteen minutes. The only likely explanation was that he was going the wrong direction.

Thus, he returned and circled to the left this time.

He fought the same creatures and used roughly the same amount of time and effort searching for tracks.

Strangely, they were really gone...

Daru returned to where he had last found a track with a slightly dejected appearance.

He even sighed from time to time as he headed to where he expected the next hoofprint to be, somewhere in front of the root hollow he used as the hiding area for his husk.

Disappointingly, he was back to where he was from the beginning of his night session, scratching his head.

’Sigh...should I just go back to hunting swordspawns?’

It was then that he suddenly noticed an unusually huge gap in the roots between two Coneleaf Mangroves a bit deeper in the thick cluster.

Daru’s brows rose, and he quickly headed over, fueled by curiosity as he climbed over the protruding roots.

Then he found it.

A strange, well-hidden burrow. The mud around it formed a wall, preventing water from entering.

While the mouth of the burrow was quite muddy, the inside was not.

Daru’s heart skipped a beat.

Had he found the mysterious swordspawn?!

But as he recovered his wits, he realized that the burrow wasn’t proportionate to the size of the footprint.

It was a bit too small for whatever the swordspawn was. Nonetheless, it was an interesting find for sure.

’A hidden dungeon?’ Daru wondered, a faint smile emerging on the corners of his mouth.

This was fine too.

So, literally head-first, he entered, squeezing himself through the entrance and crawling deeper until it was comfortable enough for him to at least crouch.

There was nothing special about the inside of the burrow; the walls were nothing but boring, loamy soil.

Still, without hesitation, he advanced.

His uncomfortable crawl and crouch soon turned into a decent walk, as the inside of the burrow expanded to barely accommodate his height.

Before Daru realized, the burrow became a whole darned cave.

It seemed that it was indeed a hidden dungeon.

Or so he believed...

Proceeding deeper, he looked around, and the once-boring, soil walls now had a few purple, faintly pulsing crystal clusters in them, which strangely didn’t seem natural but still gave an impression that the cave was alive.

It was as though the growths were simply planted there through brute force.

However, how could anyone be so strong?

Daru soon arrived in a modest cavern, which seemed to be the heart of the burrow-turned-cave.

He was now unsure whether this location was truly a hidden dungeon.

It was similar to Cryzhar’s labyrinth, with the only difference being the method of entrance and the size.

This one was way smaller.

He finally found it difficult to resist the allure of the purple crystals, thinking they might be valuable.

So, he headed over to one growth cluster. Perhaps he could harvest it?

Daru gripped the handle of his tachi slightly firmer and was about to slash down on the crystals when, suddenly, he felt a horrifying gaze pierce through his entire being from behind.

He wanted to turn his head and face the threat, but was unable to move for an entire, fatal second.

Then, just as he was about to desperately wrestle bodily functions back, the sensation of approaching death weakened, then vanished entirely.

Daru quickly turned, his breathing heavy. But there was nothing behind him.

The cavern wasn’t that big, so he could see it in its entirety after barely moving his head from left to right.

Adrenaline coursed through his body as a realization struck.

This was not a hidden dungeon but a lair!

His heart and mind were overstimulated from both a sense of danger and excitement, peaking as an unsettling, ancient voice rasped above him:

"A...human?"